Sock monkeys!

pennib

Shelley we are having such odd weather at the moment. Everytime my garden dries out the next day gets another soaking!:mad:

Lesley glad you have found your own unique way of making the monkeys. It's all trial and error isn't it:o

Here is Leonard (or Lenny as he likes to be called)

lesleyp1978

Wow, Shelley, if you let your dogs out in that your house will be a mud bath!!!!

You will have to post pics of when its finished so we can have a mooch!!

I am really happy with the way my monkeys are turning out at the minute and I like the style of them! I haven't seen any others with the side smile either which I am happy about!

Your display stand that your made is absolutely excellent!! and the '18' monkey is great!! Do you find that you do well at the craft fairs and stuff?

I am going to see about ordering some little labels or ribbons that I can stitch onto my monkeys so that they are always identifiable to me. Can you suggest anywhere?

I don't seem to have enough hours in the day to make the monkeys and my husband texts me from upstairs telling me to put them down and come to bed when I am trying to get a sneaky stitch in!!!:rotfl:

Shelley3774

Hi Pennib loving Lenny - leopard print monkeys are always my fav! gorgeous
We are having the same weather down here lovely and sunny this morning and bucketing down now!! GGRRR!!! I did let my pup out earlier big mistake he thought the muck was so much fun!!!! He is a fawn pug so you can imagine the colour on him when he came back in!!:rotfl:

I've only done 2 shopping evenings so far as I am always too busy to have enough time to make enough stock up but i have to say they have been great! Both had poor turnouts but sold at least 7 monkeys each time so I'm happy. Got loads of interest too
It takes a lot of work to prepare for them tho at least 2 weeks of solid sewing beforehand so it can be stressful. I am supposed to be doing another on the 2nd June and then my son's school fete on the 28th June so I will see how I go.

I get my labels personalised on ebay from a seller called Carelabels. She is excellent - really cheap and delivery is really quick.

I bet your hubby is cursing you Lesley monkeys are taking over. Hubby and I both work shifts so don't see much of each other anyway these days and when we eventually have time together I'm the same - sewing and stuffing monkeys! Luckily he doesn't mind he has time then to catch up on sport !!

I managed to make up 2 monkeys yesterday and nearly finished another bride and groom. Here is Rosie:

Shelley3774

Just finished the bride and groom monkeys
I promise I will not clog up this thread now with all my monkey pics!

tillyjane67

Hello ladies... i've been browsing forum for a while and admiring all your lovely monkeys... mine are no-where near as good!
Question i have for you is this... i was aked a couple of days ago, if mine are all CE marked... i didnt realise they had to be, until i looked into it..
I have some orders to fill and have a couple of craft fairs to do next month.... now not sure what to do????

Tilly xx

Shelley3774

I didn't know this until recently either I've always used safety eyes and stuffing that conforms to all the safety standards but apparently its a minefield! I've always stated mine are not toys and not suitable for children but apparently that is not enough I am looking into this at the moment x

tillyjane67

Hi Shelley.. i know, its an awful shame. Your monkeys are especially lovely. At the moment, i'm carrying on doing my orders.. its the craft fairs im worried about x

Shelley3774

tillyjane67 wrote: »

Hi Shelley.. i know, its an awful shame. Your monkeys are especially lovely. At the moment, i'm carrying on doing my orders.. its the craft fairs im worried about x

Thanks Tilly, yes it is a worry fortunately I've only done 2 and won't do anymore now until its sorted. You can buy a kit for £20 which helps you through the self cert process so thats next on the list x

capricorn155

Hi, I'm a newbie to this forum.
I'm in the same situation as you in that I too make sock monkeys to sell and have recently heard about the regulations, all of which seem far to complicated to adhere to. I read that each component would need a technical file stating that it passes fire regs etc. Plus all materials would need fire safety certificates from the manufacturers - this is an impossibility as like you I buy my socks from many different shops and no doubt they buy them from different wholesalers who in turn buy them from different manufacturers and it's the manufacturers that hold the fire certificates - there's no way I can get hold of a copy of those!
By stating that they are not suitable for anyone under 14, surely cuts down your customer base as all but one of my monkeys so far have been bought for children. Also the info I read states that if the product is appealing to kids then it still needs to comply - they seem to have you always!
What are others doing regarding this - atm I've stopped selling as I'm terrified that a member or TS will be at an event, but I have loads of monkeys made as I'm doing a two day event in June and was making stock for that.
What is the pack for £20 - any idea where I would get it from and what does it entail?
Sock monkeys are the main part of my business and atm I am so despondent, that I feel like jacking it all in :-(

tillyjane67

I think im going to pull out of craft fairs now... darent risk it